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Second Day
-
Novel VII

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
001
]
The Soldan of Babylon sends one of his daughters overseas,
designing to marry her to the King of Algarve.
By divers adventures she comes in the space of four
years into the hands of nine men in divers places.
At last she is restored to her father, whom she quits
again in the guise of a virgin, and, as was at first
intended, is married to the King of Algarve.

[Voice:
author
]

[
002
]
Had Emilia's story but lasted a little longer, the young ladies
would perhaps have been moved to tears, so great was the sympathy
which they felt for Madam Beritola in her various fortunes. But
now that it was ended, the Queen bade Pamfilo follow suit; and he,
than whom none was more obedient, thus began:

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
003
]
Hardly, gracious ladies, is it given to us to know that which makes
for our good; insomuch that, as has been observable in a multitude
of instances, many, deeming that the acquisition of great riches would
ensure them an easy and tranquil existence, have not only besought
them of God in prayer, but have sought them with such ardour that
they have spared no pains and shrunk from no danger in the quest,
and have attained their end only to lose, at the hands of some one
covetous of their vast inheritance, a life with which before the days
of their prosperity they were well content. [
004
]
Others, whose course,
perilous with a thousand battles, stained with the blood of their
brothers and their friends, has raised them from base to regal estate,
have found in place of the felicity they expected an infinity of cares
and fears, and have proved by experience that a chalice may be
poisoned, though it be of gold, and set on the table of a king.
[
005
]
Many
have most ardently desired beauty and strength and other advantages
of person, and have only been taught their error by the death or
dolorous life which these very advantages entailed upon them.
[
006
]
And so, not to instance each particular human desire, I say, in sum,
that there is none of them that men may indulge in full confidence
as exempt from the chances and changes of fortune; wherefore, if we
would act rightly, we ought to school ourselves to take and be
content with that which He gives us, who alone knows and can
afford us that of which we have need. [
007
]
But, divers as are the
aberrations of desire to which men are prone, so, gracious ladies,
there is one to which you are especially liable, in that you are unduly
solicitous of beauty, insomuch, that, not content with the charms
which nature has allotted you, you endeavour to enhance them with
wondrous ingenuity of art; wherefore I am minded to make you
acquainted with the coil of misadventures in which her beauty
involved a fair Saracen, who in the course of, perhaps, four years was
wedded nine several times.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
008
]
There was of yore a Soldan of Babylon, by name of Beminedab,
who in his day had cause enough to be well content with his luck.
[
009
]
Many children male and female had he, and among them a daughter,
Alatiel by name, who by common consent of all that saw her was
the most beautiful woman then to be found in the world. Now the
Soldan, having been signally aided by the King of Algarve in
inflicting a great defeat upon a host of Arabs that had attacked him,
had at his instance and by way of special favour given Alatiel to the
King to wife; wherefore, with an honourable escort of gentlemen
and ladies most nobly and richly equipped, he placed her aboard a
well-armed, well-furnished ship, and, commending her to God, sped
her on her journey. [
010
]
The mariners, as soon as the weather was
favourable, hoisted sail, and for some days after their departure from
Alexandria had a prosperous voyage; but when they had passed
Sardinia, and were beginning to think that they were nearing their
journey's end, they were caught one day between divers cross winds,
each blowing with extreme fury, whereby the ship laboured so sorely
that not only the lady but the seamen from time to time gave themselves
up for lost. [
011
]
But still, most manfully and skilfully they
struggled might and main with the tempest, which, ever waxing
rather than waning, buffeted them for two days with immense unintermittent
surges; and being not far from the island of Majorca, as
the third night began to close in, wrapt in clouds and mist and thick
darkness, so that they saw neither the sky nor aught else, nor by any
nautical skill might conjecture where they were, they felt the ship's
timbers part. [
012
]
Wherefore, seeing no way to save the ship, each thought
only how best to save himself, and, a boat being thrown out, the
masters first, and then the men, one by one, though the first-comers
sought with knives in their hands to bar the passage of the rest, all,
rather than remain in the leaky ship, crowded into it, and there
found the death which they hoped to escape. [
013
]
For the boat, being in
such stress of weather and with such a burden quite unmanageable,
went under, and all aboard her perished; whereas the ship, leaky
though she was, and all but full of water, yet, driven by the fury of
the tempest, was hurled with prodigious velocity upon the shore of
the island of Majorca, and struck it with such force as to embed
herself in the sand, perhaps a stone's throw from terra firma, where
she remained all night beaten and washed by the sea, but no more
to be moved by the utmost violence of the gale. None had remained
aboard her but the lady and her women, whom the malice of
the elements and their fears had brought to the verge of death.
[
014
]
When it was broad day and the storm was somewhat abated, the
lady, half dead, raised her head, and in faltering accents began to call
first one and then another of her servants. She called in vain, however;
for those whom she called were too far off to hear. [
015
]
Great
indeed was her wonder and fear to find herself thus without sight of
human face or sound of other voice than her own; but, struggling
to her feet as best she might, she looked about her, and saw the ladies
that were of her escort, and the other women, all prostrate on the
deck; so, after calling them one by one, she began at length to touch
them, and finding few that shewed sign of life, for indeed, between
grievous sea-sickness and fear, they had little life left, she grew more
terrified than before. [
016
]
However, being in sore need of counsel, all
alone as she was, and without knowledge or means of learning where
she was, she at last induced such as had life in them to get upon their
feet, with whom, as none knew where the men were gone, and the
ship was now full of water and visibly breaking up, she abandoned
herself to piteous lamentations.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
017
]
It was already none before they descried any one on the shore or
elsewhere to whom they could make appeal for help; but shortly
after none it so chanced that a gentleman, Pericone da Visalgo by
name, being on his return from one of his estates, passed that way
with some mounted servants. Catching sight of the ship, he apprehended
the circumstances at a glance, and bade one of his servants
try to get aboard her, and let him know the result. [
018
]
The servant
with some difficulty succeeded in boarding the vessel, and found the
gentle lady with her few companions ensconced under shelter of the
prow, and shrinking timidly from observation. [
019
]
At the first sight of
him they wept, and again and again implored him to have pity on
them; but finding that he did not understand them, nor they him,
they sought by gestures to make him apprehend their forlorn
condition.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
020
]
With these tidings the servant, after making such survey of the
ship as he could, returned to Pericone, who forthwith caused the
ladies, and all articles of value which were in the ship and could be
removed, to be brought off her, and took them with him to one of
his castles. The ladies' powers were soon in a measure restored by
food and rest, and by the honour which was paid to Alatiel, and
Alatiel alone by all the rest, as well as by the richness of her dress,
Pericone perceived that she must be some great lady. [
021
]
Nor, though
she was still pale, and her person bore evident marks of the sea's
rough usage, did he fail to note that it was cast in a mould of
extraordinary
beauty. Wherefore his mind was soon made up that, if she
lacked a husband, he would take her to wife, and that, if he could
not have her to wife, then he would make her his mistress. [
022
]
So
this ardent lover, who was a man of powerful frame and haughty
mien, devoted himself for several days to the service of the
lady with excellent effect, for the lady completely recovered her
strength and spirits, so that her beauty far exceeded Pericone's most
sanguine conjectures. Great therefore beyond measure was his
sorrow that he understood not her speech, nor she his, so that neither
could know who the other was; but being inordinately enamoured of
her beauty, he sought by such mute blandishments as he could devise
to declare his love, and bring her of her own accord to gratify his
desire. All in vain, however; she repulsed his advances point blank;
whereby his passion only grew the stronger. [
023
]
So some days passed;
and the lady perceiving Pericone's constancy, and bethinking her that
sooner or later she must yield either to force or to love, and gratify his
passion, and judging by what she observed of the customs of the people
that she was amongst Christians, and in a part where, were she able
to speak their language, she would gain little by making herself
known, determined with a lofty courage to stand firm and immovable
in this extremity of her misfortunes. [
024
]
Wherefore she bade the
three women, who were all that were left to her, on no account to let
any know who they were, unless they were so circumstanced that
they might safely count on assistance in effecting their escape: she
also exhorted them most earnestly to preserve their chastity, averring
that she was firmly resolved that none but her husband should enjoy
her. The women heartily assented, and promised that her injunctions
should be obeyed to the utmost of their power.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
025
]
Day by day Pericone's passion waxed more ardent, being fomented
by the proximity and contrariety of its object. Wherefore seeing
that blandishment availed nothing, he was minded to have recourse to
wiles and stratagems, and in the last resort to force.
[
026
]
The lady,
debarred by her law from the use of wine, found it, perhaps, on that
account all the more palatable; which Pericone observing determined
to enlist Bacchus in the service of Venus. So, ignoring her
coyness, he provided one evening a supper, which was ordered with
all possible pomp and beauty, and graced by the presence of the lady.
No lack was there of incentives to hilarity; and Pericone directed
the servant who waited on Alatiel to ply her with divers sorts of
blended wines; [
027
]
which command the man faithfully executed. She,
suspecting nothing, and seduced by the delicious flavour of the
liquor, drank somewhat more freely than was seemly, and forgetting
her past woes, became frolicsome, and incited by some women who
trod some measures in the Majorcan style, she shewed the company
how they footed it in Alexandria. [
028
]
This novel demeanour was by no
means lost on Pericone, who saw in it a good omen of his speedy
success; so, with profuse relays of food and wine he prolonged the
supper far into the night.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
029
]
When the guests were at length gone, he attended the lady alone
to her chamber, where, the heat of the wine overpowering the cold
counsels of modesty, she made no more account of Pericone's presence
than if he had been one of her women, and forthwith undressed and
went to bed. [
030
]
Pericone was not slow to follow her, and as soon as
the light was out lay down by her side, and taking her in his arms,
without the least demur on her part, began to solace himself with her
after the manner of lovers; which experience--she knew not till then
with what horn men butt--caused her to repent that she had not
yielded to his blandishments; nor did she thereafter wait to be
invited to such nights of delight, but many a time declared her readiness,
not by words, for she had none to convey her meaning, but by
gestures.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
031
]
But this great felicity which she now shared with Pericone was
not to last: for not content with making her, instead of the consort
of a king, the mistress of a castellan, Fortune had now in store for her
a harsher experience, though of an amorous character. [
032
]
Pericone had
a brother, twenty-five years of age, fair and fresh as a rose, his name
Marato. On sight of Alatiel Marato had been mightily taken with
her; he inferred from her bearing that he stood high in her good
graces; he believed that nothing stood between him and the gratification
of his passion but the jealous vigilance with which Pericone
guarded her. So musing, he hit upon a ruthless expedient, which
had effect in action as hasty as heinous.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
033
]
It so chanced that there then lay in the port of the city a ship,
commanded by two Genoese, bound with a cargo of merchandise for
Klarenza in the Morea: her sails were already hoist; and she tarried
only for a favourable breeze. Marato approached the masters and
arranged with them to take himself and the lady aboard on the
following night. [
034
]
This done he concerted further action with some
of his most trusty friends, who readily lent him their aid to carry his
design into execution. So on the following evening towards nightfall,
the conspirators stole unobserved into Pericone's house, which
was entirely unguarded, and there hid themselves, as pre-arranged.
[
035
]
Then, as the night wore on, Marato shewed them where Pericone
and the lady slept, and they entered the room, and slew Pericone.
The lady thus rudely roused wept; but silencing her by menaces of
death they carried her off with the best part of Pericone's treasure,
and hied them unobserved to the coast, where Marato parted from his
companions, and forthwith took the lady aboard the ship. [
036
]
The wind
was now fair and fresh, the mariners spread the canvas, and the vessel
sped on her course.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
037
]
This new misadventure, following so hard upon the former, caused
the lady no small chagrin; but Marato, with the aid of the good St.
Crescent-in-hand that God has given us, found means to afford her
such consolation that she was already grown so familiar with him as
entirely to forget Pericone, when Fortune, not content with her
former caprices, added a new dispensation of woe; [
038
]
for what with
the beauty of her person, which, as we have often said, was extraordinary,
and the exquisite charm of her manners, the two young
men, who commanded the ship, fell so desperately in love with her
that they thought of nothing but how they might best serve and
please her, so only that Marato should not discover the reason of their
assiduous attentions. [
039
]
And neither being ignorant of the other's love,
they held secret counsel together, and resolved to make conquest of
the lady on joint account: as if love admitted of being held in partnership
like merchandise or money. [
040
]
Which design being thwarted
by the jealousy with which Alatiel was guarded by Marato, they
chose a day and hour, when the ship was speeding amain under canvas,
and Marato was on the poop looking out over the sea and quite off
his guard; and going stealthily up behind him, they suddenly laid
hands on him, and threw him into the sea, and were already more
than a mile on their course before any perceived that Marato was
overboard. Which when the lady learned, and knew that he was
irretrievably lost, she relapsed into her former plaintive mood.
[
041
]
But
the twain were forthwith by her side with soft speeches and profuse
promises, which, however ill she understood them, were not altogether
inapt to allay a grief which had in it more of concern for her own
hapless self than of sorrow for her lost lover. So, in course of time,
the lady beginning visibly to recover heart, they began privily to
debate which of them should first take her to bed with him; [
042
]
and
neither being willing to give way to the other, and no compromise
being discoverable, high words passed between them, and the dispute
grew so hot, that they both waxed very wroth, drew their knives, and
rushed madly at one another, and before they could be parted by their
men, several stabs had been given and received on either side, whereby
the one fell dead on the spot, and the other was severely wounded in
divers parts of the body. [
043
]
The lady was much disconcerted to find
herself thus alone with none to afford her either succour or counsel,
and was mightily afraid lest the wrath of the kinsfolk and friends of
the twain should vent itself upon her. From this mortal peril she
was, however, delivered by the intercessions of the wounded man and
their speedy arrival at Klarenza.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
044
]
As there she tarried at the same inn with her wounded lover, the
fame of her great beauty was speedily bruited abroad, and reached the
ears of the Prince of the Morea, who was then staying there. The
Prince was curious to see her, and having so done, pronounced her even
more beautiful than rumour had reported her; nay, he fell in love
with her in such a degree that he could think of nought else; and
having heard in what guise she had come thither, he deemed that he
might have her. [
045
]
While he was casting about how to compass his
end, the kinsfolk of the wounded man, being apprised of the fact,
forthwith sent her to him to the boundless delight, as well of the lady,
who saw therein her deliverance from a great peril, as of the Prince.
[
046
]
The royal bearing, which enhanced the lady's charms, did not escape
the Prince, who, being unable to discover her true rank, set her down
as at any rate of noble lineage; wherefore he loved her as much again
as before, and shewed her no small honour, treating her not as his
mistress but as his wife. [
047
]
So the lady, contrasting her present happy
estate with her past woes, was comforted; and, as her gaiety revived,
her beauty waxed in such a degree that all the Morea talked of it and
of little else: [
048
]
insomuch that the Prince's friend and kinsman, the
young, handsome and gallant Duke of Athens, was smitten with a
desire to see her, and taking occasion to pay the Prince a visit, as he
was now and again wont to do, came to Klarenza with a goodly
company of honourable gentlemen. The Prince received him with
all distinction and made him heartily welcome, but did not at first
shew him the lady. By and by, however, their conversation began
to turn upon her and her charms, and the Duke asked if she were
really so marvellous a creature as folk said. [
049
]
The Prince replied:
“
Nay, but even more so; and thereof thou shalt have better assurance
than my words, to wit, the witness of thine own eyes.
”
[
050
]
So, without
delay, for the Duke was now all impatience, they waited on the lady,
who was prepared for their visit, and received them very courteously
and graciously. They seated her between them, and being debarred
from the pleasure of conversing with her, for of their speech she
understood little or nothing, they both, and especially the Duke, who
was scarce able to believe that she was of mortal mould, gazed upon
her in mute admiration; whereby the Duke, cheating himself with
the idea that he was but gratifying his curiosity, drank with his eyes,
unawares, deep draughts of the poisoned chalice of love, and, to his
own lamentable hurt, fell a prey to a most ardent passion.
[
051
]
His first
thought, when they had left her, and he had time for reflection, was
that the Prince was the luckiest man in the world to have a creature so
fair to solace him; and swayed by his passion, his mind soon inclined
to divers other and less honourable meditations, whereof the issue was
that, come what might, he would despoil the Prince of his felicity, and,
if possible, make it his own.
[
052
]
This resolution was no sooner taken than,
being of a hasty temperament, he cast to the winds all considerations
of honour and justice, and studied only how to compass his end by
craft. So, one day, as the first step towards the accomplishment of his
evil purpose, he arranged with the Prince's most trusted chamberlain,
one Ciuriaci, that his horses and all other his personal effects should,
with the utmost secrecy, be got ready against a possible sudden departure:
and then at nightfall, attended by a single comrade (both
carrying arms), he was privily admitted by Ciuriaci into the Prince's
chamber. It was a hot night, and the Prince had risen without
disturbing the lady, and was standing bare to the skin at an open
window fronting the sea, to enjoy a light breeze that blew thence.
[
053
]
So, by preconcert with his comrade, the Duke stole up to the window,
and in a trice ran the Prince through the body, and caught him up,
and threw him out of the window. [
054
]
The palace was close by the
sea, but at a considerable altitude above it, and the window, through
which the Prince's body was thrown, looked over some houses, which,
being sapped by the sea, had become ruinous, and were rarely or
never visited by a soul; whereby, as the Duke had foreseen, the fall
of the Prince's body passed, as indeed it could not but pass, unobserved.
[
055
]
Thereupon the Duke's accomplice whipped out a halter,
which he had brought with him for the purpose, and, making as if he
were but in play, threw it round Ciuriaci's neck, drew it so tight that
he could not utter a sound, and then, with the Duke's aid, strangled
him, and sent him after his master. [
056
]
All this was accomplished, as the
Duke knew full well, without awakening any in the palace, not even
the lady, whom he now approached with a light, and holding it
over the bed gently uncovered her person, as she lay fast asleep, and
surveyed her from head to foot to his no small satisfaction; for fair
as she had seemed to him dressed, he found her unadorned charms
incomparably greater. [
057
]
As he gazed, his passion waxed beyond
measure, and, reckless of his recent crime, and of the blood which
still stained his hands, he got forthwith into the bed; and she, being
too sound asleep to distinguish between him and the Prince, suffered
him to lie with her.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
058
]
But, boundless as was his delight, it brooked no long continuance;
so, rising, he called to him some of his comrades, by whom he had
the lady secured in such manner that she could utter no sound, and
borne out of the palace by the same secret door by which he had
gained entrance; he then set her on horseback and in dead silence
put his troop in motion, taking the road to Athens. [
059
]
He did not,
however, venture to take the lady to Athens, where she would have
encountered his Duchess--for he was married--but lodged her in a
very beautiful villa which he had hard by the city overlooking the
sea, where, most forlorn of ladies, she lived secluded, but with no lack
of meet and respectful service.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
060
]
On the following morning the Prince's courtiers awaited his
rising until none, but perceiving no sign of it, opened the doors,
which had not been secured, and entered his bedroom. Finding it
vacant, they supposed that the Prince was gone off privily somewhere
to have a few days of unbroken delight with his fair lady; and so
they gave themselves no further trouble. [
061
]
But the next day it so
chanced that an idiot, roaming about the ruins where lay the corpses
of the Prince and Ciuriaci, drew the latter out by the halter and
went off dragging it after him. The corpse was soon recognised by
not a few, who, at first struck dumb with amazement, soon recovered
sense enough to cajole the idiot into retracing his steps and shewing
them the spot where he had found it; and having thus, to the
immeasurable grief of all the citizens, discovered the Prince's body,
they buried it with all honour. Needless to say that no pains were
spared to trace the perpetrators of so heinous a crime, and that the
absence and evidently furtive departure of the Duke of Athens
caused him to be suspected both of the murder and of the abduction
of the lady. [
062
]
So the citizens were instant with one accord that
the Prince's brother, whom they chose as his successor, should exact
the debt of vengeance; and he, having satisfied himself by further
investigation that their suspicion was well founded, summoned to his
aid his kinsfolk, friends and divers vassals, and speedily gathered a
large, powerful and well-equipped army, with intent to make war
upon the Duke of Athens. [
063
]
The Duke, being informed of his
movements, made ready likewise to defend himself with all his
power; nor had he any lack of allies, among whom the Emperor of
Constantinople sent his son, Constantine, and his nephew, Manuel,
with a great and goodly force. The two young men were honourably
received by the Duke, and still more so by the Duchess, who
was Constantine's sister.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
064
]
Day by day war grew more imminent; and at last the Duchess
took occasion to call Constantine and Manuel into her private
chamber, and with many tears told them the whole story at large,
explaining the casus belli, dilating on the indignity which she
suffered
at the hands of the Duke, if, as was believed, he really kept a mistress
in secret, and beseeching them in most piteous accents to do the best
they could to devise some expedient whereby the Duke's honour
might be cleared, and her own peace of mind assured. [
065
]
The young
men knew exactly how matters stood; and so, without wearying the
Duchess with many questions, they did their best to console her, and
succeeded in raising her hopes. Before taking their leave they
learned from her where the lady was, [
066
]
whose marvellous beauty they
had heard lauded so often; and being eager to see her, they besought
the Duke to afford them an opportunity. Forgetful of what a like
complaisance had cost the Prince, he consented, and next morning
brought them to the villa where the lady lived, and with her and a
few of his boon companions regaled them with a lordly breakfast,
which was served in a most lovely garden. [
067
]
Constantine had no
sooner seated himself and surveyed the lady, than he was lost in
admiration, inly affirming that he had never seen so beautiful a
creature, and that for such a prize the Duke, or any other man,
might well be pardoned treachery or any other crime: he scanned
her again and again, and ever with more and more admiration; whereby
it fared with him even as it had fared with the Duke. [
068
]
He went
away hotly in love with her, and dismissing all thought of the war,
cast about for some method by which, without betraying his passion to
any, he might devise some means of wresting the lady from the Duke.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
069
]
As he thus burned and brooded, the Prince drew dangerously
near the Duke's dominions; wherefore order was given for an
advance, and the Duke, with Constantine and the rest, marshalled
his forces and led them forth from Athens to bar the Prince's passage
of the frontier at certain points. [
070
]
Some days thus passed, during
which Constantine, whose mind and soul were entirely absorbed by
his passion for the lady, bethought him, that, as the Duke was no
longer in her neighbourhood, he might readily compass his end. He
therefore feigned to be seriously unwell, and, having by this pretext
obtained the Duke's leave, he ceded his command to Manuel, and
returned to his sister at Athens. He had not been there many days
before the Duchess recurred to the dishonour which the Duke did
her by keeping the lady; whereupon he said that of that, if she
approved, he would certainly relieve her by seeing that the lady was
removed from the villa to some distant place. [
071
]
The Duchess,
supposing that Constantine was prompted not by jealousy of the
Duke but by jealousy for her honour, gave her hearty consent to his
plan, provided he so contrived that the Duke should never know that
she had been privy to it; on which point Constantine gave her ample
assurance. So, being authorised by the Duchess to act as he might
deem best, [
072
]
he secretly equipped a light bark and manned her with
some of his men, to whom he confided his plan, bidding them lie to
off the garden of the lady's villa; and so, having sent the bark
forward, he hied him with other of his men to the villa. He gained
ready admission of the servants, and was made heartily welcome by
the lady, who, at his desire, attended by some of her servants, walked
with him and some of his comrades in the garden. [
073
]
By and by,
feigning that he had a message for her from the Duke, he drew her
aside towards a gate that led down to the sea, and which one of his
confederates had already opened. A concerted signal brought the
bark alongside, and to seize the lady and set her aboard the bark was
but the work of an instant. Her retinue hung back as they heard
Constantine menace with death whoso but stirred or spoke, and
suffered him, protesting that what he did was done not to wrong the
Duke but solely to vindicate his sister's honour, to embark with his
men. [
074
]
The lady wept, of course, but Constantine was at her side,
the rowers gave way, and the bark, speeding like a thing of life over
the waves, made Egina shortly after dawn. [
075
]
There Constantine and
the lady landed, she still lamenting her fatal beauty, and took a
little
rest and pleasure. Then, re-embarking, they continued their voyage,
and in the course of a few days reached Chios, which Constantine,
fearing paternal censure, and that he might be deprived of his fair
booty, deemed a safe place of sojourn. So, after some days of repose
the lady ceased to bewail her harsh destiny, and suffering Constantine
to console her as his predecessors had done, began once more to enjoy
the good gifts which Fortune sent her.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
076
]
Now while they thus dallied, Osbech, King of the Turks, who
was perennially at war with the Emperor, came by chance to
Smyrna; and there learning that Constantine was wantoning in
careless ease at Chios with a lady of whom he had made prize, he
made a descent by night upon the island with an armed flotilla.
Landing his men in dead silence, he made captives of not a few of
the Chians whom he surprised in their beds; others, who took the
alarm and rushed to arms, he slew; and having wasted the whole
island with fire, he shipped the booty and the prisoners, and sailed
back to Smyrna. [
077
]
As there he overhauled the booty, he lit upon the
fair lady, and knew her for the same that had been taken in bed
and fast asleep with Constantine: whereat, being a young man,
he was delighted beyond measure, and made her his wife out of
hand with all due form and ceremony. And so for several months
he enjoyed her.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
078
]
Now there had been for some time and still was a treaty pending
between the Emperor and Basano, King of Cappadocia, whereby
Basano with his forces was to fall on Osbech on one side while the
Emperor attacked him on the other. Some demands made by
Basano, which the Emperor deemed unreasonable, had so far retarded
the conclusion of the treaty; but no sooner had the Emperor learned
the fate of his son than, distraught with grief, he forthwith conceded
the King of Cappadocia's demands, and was instant with him to fall
at once upon Osbech while he made ready to attack him on the other
side. [
079
]
Getting wind of the Emperor's design, Osbech collected his
forces, and, lest he should be caught and crushed between the convergent
armies of two most mighty potentates, advanced against the
King of Cappadocia. The fair lady he left at Smyrna in the care of
a faithful dependant and friend, and after a while joined battle with
the King of Cappadocia, in which battle he was slain, and his army
defeated and dispersed. Wherefore Basano with his victorious host
advanced, carrying everything before him, upon Smyrna, and receiving
everywhere the submission due to a conqueror.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
080
]
Meanwhile Osbech's dependant, by name Antioco, who had
charge of the fair lady, was so smitten with her charms that, albeit
he was somewhat advanced in years, he broke faith with his friend
and lord, and allowed himself to become enamoured of her. He had
the advantage of knowing her language, which counted for much with
one who for some years had been, as it were, compelled to live the
life of a deaf mute, finding none whom she could understand or by
whom she might be understood; and goaded by passion, he in the
course of a few days established such a degree of intimacy with her
that in no long time it passed from friendship into love, so that their
lord, far away amid the clash of arms and the tumult of the battle,
was forgotten, and marvellous pleasure had they of one another
between the sheets.

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
081
]
However, news came at last of Osbech's defeat and death, and
the victorious and unchecked advance of Basano, whose advent they
were by no means minded to await. Wherefore, taking with them
the best part of the treasure that Osbech had left there, they hied
them with all possible secrecy to Rhodes. There they had not along
abode before Antioco fell ill of a mortal disease. [
082
]
He had then with
him a Cypriote merchant, an intimate and very dear friend, to whom,
as he felt his end approach, he resolved to leave all that he possessed,
including his dear lady. [
083
]
So, when he felt death imminent, he called
them to him and said:
“
'Tis now quite evident to me that my life
is fast ebbing away; and sorely do I regret it, for never had I so much
pleasure of life as now. Well content indeed I am in one respect,
in that, as die I must, I at least die in the arms of the two persons
whom I love more than any other in the world, to wit, in thine
arms, dearest friend, and those of this lady, whom, since I have
known her, I have loved more than myself. [
084
]
But yet 'tis grievous to
me to know that I must leave her here in a strange land with none
to afford her either protection or counsel; and but that I leave her
with thee, who, I doubt not, wilt have for my sake no less care of her
than thou wouldst have had of me, 'twould grieve me still more;
wherefore with all my heart and soul I pray thee, that, if I die, thou
take her with all else that belongs to me into thy charge, and so
acquit thyself of thy trust as thou mayst deem conducive to
the peace of my soul. [
085
]
And of thee, dearest lady, I entreat one
favour, that I be not forgotten of thee, after my death, so that there
whither I go it may still be my boast to be beloved here of the
most beautiful lady that nature ever formed. Let me but die
with these two hopes assured, and without doubt I shall depart in
peace.
”

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
086
]
Both the merchant and the lady wept to hear him thus speak,
and, when he had done, comforted him, and promised faithfully, in the
event of his death, to do even as he besought them. He died almost
immediately afterwards, and was honourably buried by them. [
087
]
A
few days sufficed the merchant to wind up all his affairs in Rhodes;
and being minded to return to Cyprus aboard a Catalan boat that was
there, he asked the fair lady what she purposed to do if he went back
to Cyprus. The lady answered, that, if it were agreeable to him, she
would gladly accompany him, hoping that for love of Antioco he
would treat and regard her as his sister. [
088
]
The merchant replied that
it would afford him all the pleasure in the world; and, to protect her
from insult until their arrival in Cyprus, he gave her out as his wife,
and, suiting action to word, slept with her on the boat in an alcove
in a little cabin in the poop. [
089
]
Whereby that happened which on
neither side was intended when they left Rhodes, to wit, that the
darkness and the comfort and the warmth of the bed, forces of no
mean efficacy, did so prevail with them that dead Antioco was forgotten
alike as lover and as friend, and by a common impulse they
began to wanton together, insomuch that before they were arrived
at Baffa, where the Cypriote resided, they were indeed man and wife.
At Baffa the lady tarried with the merchant a good while,
[
090
]
during
which it so befell that a gentleman, Antigono by name, a man of
ripe age and riper wisdom but no great wealth, being one that had
had vast and various experience of affairs in the service of the King
of Cyprus but had found fortune adverse to him, came to Baffa on
business; and [
091
]
passing one day by the house where the fair lady was
then living by herself, for the Cypriote merchant was gone to Armenia
with some of his wares, he chanced to catch sight of the lady at
one of the windows, and, being struck by her extraordinary beauty,
regarded her attentively, and began to have some vague recollection
of having seen her before, but could by no means remember where.
[
092
]
The fair lady, however, so long the sport of Fortune, but now nearing
the term of her woes, no sooner saw Antigono than she remembered
to have seen him in her father's service, and in no mean
capacity, at Alexandria. Wherefore she forthwith sent for him,
hoping that by his counsel she might elude her merchant and be
reinstated in her true character and dignity of princess.
[
093
]
When he
presented himself, she asked him with some embarrassment whether
he were, as she took him to be, Antigono of Famagosta.
[
094
]
He answered
in the affirmative, adding:
“
And of you, madam, I have a sort of
recollection, though I cannot say where I have seen you; wherefore,
so it irk you not, bring, I pray you, yourself to my remembrance.
”
[
095
]
Satisfied that it was Antigono himself, the lady in a flood of tears threw
herself upon him to his no small amazement, and embraced his neck:
then, after a little while, she asked him whether he had never seen
her in Alexandria. The question awakened Antigono's memory; he
at once recognised Alatiel, the Soldan's daughter, whom he had thought
to have been drowned at sea, and would have paid her due homage;
but she would not suffer it, and bade him be seated with her for a
while. [
096
]
Being seated, he respectfully asked her, how, and when and
whence she had come thither, seeing that all Egypt believed for
certain that she had been drowned at sea some years before.
[
097
]
“
And
would that so it had been,
”
said the lady,
“
rather than I should
have led the life that I have led; and so doubtless will my father
say, if he shall ever come to know of it.
”
And so saying, she
burst into such a flood of tears that 'twas a wonder to see.
[
098
]
Wherefore
[
099
]
Antigono said to her:
“
Nay but, madam, be not distressed
before the occasion arises. I pray you, tell me the story of your
adventures, and what has been the tenor of your life; perchance
'twill prove to be no such matter but, God helping us, we may set it
all straight.
”
“
Antigono,
”
said the fair lady,
“
when I saw thee,
'twas as if I saw my father, and 'twas the tender love by which I
am holden to him that prompted me to make myself known to thee,
though I might have kept my secret; and few indeed there are,
whom to have met would have afforded me such pleasure as this
which I have in meeting and recognising thee before all others;
wherefore I will now make known to thee as to a father that which
in my evil fortune I have ever kept close. [
100
]
If, when thou hast heard
my story, thou seest any means whereby I may be reinstated in my
former honour, I pray thee use it. If not, disclose to none that thou
hast seen me or heard aught of me.
”

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
101
]
Then, weeping between every word, she told him her whole
story from the day of the shipwreck at Majorca to that hour.
Antigono wept in sympathy, and then said:
“
Madam, as throughout
this train of misfortunes you have happily escaped recognition, I
undertake to restore you to your father in such sort that you shall be
dearer to him than ever before, and be afterwards married to the King
of Algarve. [
102
]
“
How?
”
she asked. Whereupon he explained to her
in detail how he meant to proceed; and, lest delay should give
occasion to another to interfere, he went back at once to Famagosta,
and having obtained audience of the King, thus he spoke:
“
Sire,
so please you, you have it in your power at little cost to yourself to
do a thing, which will at once redound most signally to your honour
and confer a great boon on me, who have grown poor in your
service.
”
[
103
]
“
How?
”
asked the King. Then said Antigono:
“
At
Baffa is of late arrived a fair damsel, daughter of the Soldan, long
thought to be drowned, who to preserve her chastity has suffered
long and severe hardship. She is now reduced to poverty, and is
desirous of returning to her father. If you should be pleased to send
her back to him under my escort, your honour and my interest would
be served in high and equal measure; nor do I think that such a
service would ever be forgotten by the Soldan.
”
”

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
104
]
With true royal generosity the King forthwith signified his
approval, and had Alatiel brought under honourable escort to Famagosta,
where, attended by his Queen, he received her with every
circumstance of festal pomp and courtly magnificence. Schooled by
Antigono, she gave the King and Queen such a version of her
adventures as satisfied their inquiries in every particular.
[
105
]
So, after a
few days, the King sent her back to the Soldan under escort of
Antigono, attended by a goodly company of honourable men and
women; and of the cheer which the Soldan made her, and not her
only but Antigono and all his company, it boots not to ask. When she
was somewhat rested, the Soldan inquired how it was that she was
yet alive, and where she had been so long without letting him know
how it fared with her. [
106
]
Whereupon the lady, who had got Antigono's
lesson by heart, answered thus:
“
My father, 'twas perhaps the
twentieth night after my departure from you when our ship parted her
timbers in a terrible storm and went ashore nigh a place called
Aguamorta, away there in the West: what was the fate of the men
that were aboard our ship I know not, nor knew I ever;
[
107
]
I remember
only, that, when day came, and I returned, as it were, from death to
life, the wreck, having been sighted, was boarded by folk from all the
country-side, intent on plunder; and I and two of my women were
taken ashore, where the women were forthwith parted from me by
the young men, nor did I ever learn their fate. Now hear my own.
[
108
]
Struggling might and main, I was seized by two young men, who
dragged me, weeping bitterly, by the hair of the head, towards a
great forest; but, on sight of four men who were then passing that
way on horseback, they forthwith loosed me and took to flight.
[
109
]
Whereupon the four men, who struck me as persons of great
authority, ran up to me; and much they questioned me, and much I
said to them; but neither did they understand me, nor I them. So,
after long time conferring together, they set me on one of their
horses and brought me to a house, where dwelt a community of
ladies, religious according to their law; and what the men may have
said I know not, but there I was kindly received and ever honourably
entreated by all; and with them I did afterwards most reverentially
pay my devotions to St. Crescent-in-Hollow, who is held in great
honour by the women of that country. [
110
]
When I had been some
time with them, and had learned something of their language, they
asked me who and whence I was: whereto I, knowing that I was in
a convent, and fearing to be cast out as a foe to their law if I told the
truth, answered that I was the daughter of a great gentleman of
Cyprus, who had intended to marry me to a gentleman of Crete;
but that on the voyage we had been driven out of our course and
wrecked at Aguamorta. [
111
]
And so I continued, as occasion required,
observing their usages with much assiduity, lest worse should befall
me; but being one day asked by their superior, whom they call
abbess, whether I was minded to go back to Cyprus, I answered that
there was nought that I desired so much. [
112
]
However, so solicitous for
my honour was the abbess, that there was none going to Cyprus to
whom she would entrust me, until, two months or so ago, there
arrived some worthy men from France, of whom one was a kinsman
of the abbess, with their wives. They were on their way to visit the
sepulchre where He whom they hold to be God was buried after He
had suffered death at the hands of the Jews; and the abbess, learning
their destination, prayed them to take charge of me, and restore me
to my father in Cyprus. [
113
]
With what cheer, with what honour, these
gentlemen and their wives entertained me, 'twere long to tell. [
114
]
But,
in brief, we embarked, and in the course of a few days arrived at
Baffa, where it was so ordered by the providence of God, who perchance
took pity on me, that in the very hour of our disembarkation
I, not knowing a soul and being at a loss how to answer the gentlemen,
who would fain have discharged the trust laid upon them by
the reverend abbess and restored me to my father, fell in, on the
shore, with Antigono, whom I forthwith called, and in our language,
that I might be understood neither of the gentlemen nor of their
wives, bade him acknowledge me as his daughter. [
115
]
He understood
my case at once, made much of me, and to the utmost of his
slender power honourably requited the gentlemen. He then brought
me to the King of Cyprus, who accorded me welcome there and
conduct hither so honourable as words of mine can never describe. It
aught remains to tell, you may best learn it from the lips of Antigono,
who has often heard my story.
”

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
116
]
Then Antigono, addressing the Soldan, said:
“
Sire, what she
has told you accords with what she has often told me, and with
what I have learned from the gentlemen and ladies who accompanied
her. [
117
]
One thing, however, she has omitted, because, I suppose, it
hardly becomes her to tell it; to wit, all that the gentlemen and
ladies, who accompanied her, said of the virtuous and gracious and
noble life which she led with the devout ladies, and of the tears and
wailings of both the ladies and the gentlemen, when they parted
with her to me. [
118
]
But were I to essay to repeat all that they said to
me, the day that now is, and the night that is to follow, were all too
short: suffice it to say so much as this, that, by what I gathered
from their words and have been able to see for myself, you may make
it your boast, that among all the daughters of all your peers that
wear the crown none can be matched with yours for virtue and true
worth.
”

[Voice:
panfilo
]

[
119
]
By all which the Soldan was so overjoyed that 'twas a wonder to
see. Again and again he made supplication to God, that of His
grace power might be vouchsafed him adequately to recompense all
who had done honour to his daughter, and most especially the King
of Cyprus, for the honourable escort under which he had sent her
thither; for Antigono he provided a magnificent guerdon, and some
days later gave him his congè to return to Cyprus, at the same
time
by a special ambassage conveying to the King his grateful acknowledgments
of the manner in which he had treated his daughter.
[
120
]
Then, being minded that his first intent, to wit, that his daughter
should be the bride of the King of Algarve, should not be frustrate,
he wrote to the King, telling him all, and adding that, if he were
still minded to have her, he might send for her. [
121
]
The King was
overjoyed by these tidings, and having sent for her with great pomp,
gave her on her arrival a hearty welcome. So she, who had lain
with eight men, in all, perhaps, ten thousand times, was bedded with
him as a virgin, and made him believe that a virgin she was, and
lived long and happily with him as his queen: [
122
]
wherefore 'twas
said:
“
Mouth, for kisses, was never the worse: like as the moon
reneweth her course.
”